Daily · Crossword
Mini Crossword review
A five-by-five. Two minutes. Daily.
The review
Mini Crossword is a daily 5×5 crossword in the NYT-mini tradition: a small grid of across and down entries, hand-clued, that a regular solver can finish in roughly two minutes. You click a cell to select an entry, type to fill it (the cursor auto-advances), and click the same cell again to flip between the across and down direction.
The format is deliberately tight — at 5×5 there’s no room for obscure trivia, so the clues lean on wordplay and crossing letters rather than deep specialist knowledge. Your time is tracked in seconds, which turns each puzzle into a small personal speed-run; the fun is shaving your solve time as you get fluent with the clue style.
It’s the most traditional puzzle in the directory and the best fit for crossword regulars who want a clean daily without ads in the grid or a paywall. Quick, clean, and consistent, it’s the thinking-person’s coffee break — free, browser-based, and reset daily on the PuzzleDaily hub.
Best for: Crossword regulars who want a fast, paywall-free daily mini.
Verdict: A clean, hand-clued 5×5 mini — the no-frills daily crossword done right.
Key facts
- Genre: Crossword
- Format: Daily puzzle (resets at 00:00 UTC)
- Price: Free — no signup, no account
- Platform: Plays in any modern browser, desktop or mobile — no download
- Play it: puzzledaily.org/crossword
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Frequently asked
Is Mini Crossword free?
Yes. Mini Crossword is free to play in your browser with no signup and no download. Crossword regulars who want a fast, paywall-free daily mini.
How do you play Mini Crossword?
Mini Crossword is a daily 5×5 crossword in the NYT-mini tradition: a small grid of across and down entries, hand-clued, that a regular solver can finish in roughly two minutes. You click a cell to select an entry, type to fill it (the cursor auto-advances), and click the same cell again to flip between the across and down direction.
Is Mini Crossword a daily game?
Yes. Mini Crossword publishes a fresh puzzle every day that resets at 00:00 UTC, so everyone plays the same puzzle each day. A clean, hand-clued 5×5 mini — the no-frills daily crossword done right.